Angel  Shine
by mikaru zero
Summary: Absolute AU, because Lyra will never act this way towards.. whoever. Bonus pairing included: DONat.
1. The First Meeting

**Meeting you was fate.**

**I. The First Meeting**

Pairing: Lyra x Denzel

(Italic and Underlined means that hose line are spoken by the 'creepy voices')

_Denzel…_

Shut uuuup.. I'm needing some sleep here!

_Denzel…Denzel…!_

GEEZ! What is wrong with you people..? Eh? People? In… my room?

_Denzel! Denzel!_

Wh-what? Who's calling me?

_Denzel…_

What do you want?

_DENZEL!_

What! Why're there so many voices screaming here?

_WE WANT __**YOU**__! NOBODY NOBODY BUT YOU!_

What the f— Who the heck are you people? And how… can you possibly get past security?

_Fufufu…_

What the heck?

_Your security guards, dogs, and other means of defense in this house… those obstacles are no match against us, the fangirls of Denzel Soliaban United (DSU, for short), your FANCLUB!_

OH MY GOD!

_Yes! And now… we shall take over your room.. and ravish you, our prince! GET HIM GIRLS~!_

**AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH**!

* * *

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Denzel!" said an aggravated voice. "Will you stop screaming and wake up? You're going to be late!"

"Wh-what? Mom? Is that you?" said a voice muffled by a tangled mass of blankets and bed sheets on the floor near the bed.

"Huh? Of course I'm your mom. Who else is here to wake you up everyday? You broke every single alarm clock we have tried to put here in your room and fired any of the staff who made an effort to wake you up." Said Denzel's mom with an exasperated voice. "You're weird this morning. Have you mistaken me for someone else? Oh, I know. Your brain has finally turned into mush. Yeah, that's the only probable reason—"

"Mom, my brain is FINE." Denzel cut his mother's absurd sentence short. He doesn't want his mother to get any ideas like putting him in a secure mental facility somewhere deep in an Amazon forest or something. "What time is it, anyway?"

"Huh? Oh, it's…" his mom looked at her watch. "6 am."

Denzel groaned. "Aww, mom! You should've woken me up earlier!"

"I did!" protested his mom. "But you just kept shrieking and thrashing about in your bed!"

"Eh, whatever. I'm gonna take a bath now."

* * *

"Lyra! Take care on your way to school!" said a voice.

"I will, mom!" replied Lyra.

"Ah! Wait! You forgot your _lunch bag_! Lyraaaa!" shouted Lyra's mother.

"Oh, right! I knew something didn't feel right… Thanks, mom!" laughed Lyra.

"Bye!" said her mother, smiling.

_Oh, I'm such a klutz. Good thing mom remembered my lunch bag!_ Thought Lyra, smiling.

-After 10 minutes of commuting…-

"Lyra, good morning!" yelled a cheerful yet groggy voice.

"Hi Maan!" waved Lyra. "Hi Nathalie!"

"Hiii! Good morning!" smiled Nathalie.

"What am I, chopped liver?" pouted a voice.

"Haha, hi Lea!" laughed Lyra.

"What, no 'good morning'?" said Lea, raising an eyebrow but grinning.

"Good morn— hey! You yourself haven't even greeted me yet."

"Eh, really? Good morning! Now where's _my_ 'good morning', hmm?"

"Good morning Lea!" grinned Lyra.

"Yeah, that's more I like it!" beamed Lea.

The group laughed, but not for long.

All laughter and noise stopped abruptly because _THE_ Denzel Soliaban (and the DSU of course, since they followed Denzel everywhere especially when he's in the campus, but Denzel have kept some distance away from them because of his dream earlier), the school heartthrob (along with 2 others), has arrived.

A few of the girls near the door swooned, and Lyra rolled her eyes.

"Geez, what's with them, getting all mushily creepy whenever _he_ comes in? He's just a student here, like us." Scoffed Lyra.

Lea raised an eyebrow. "Err.. Lyra? He's one of the school _heartthrobs_. Even the higher years go lovey-dovey over him."

"Well, I don't get what they see in _him_. What's so nice about him, anyway? So arrogant…"

"Yeah.." said Nathalie, twirling a strand of loose hair. "I don't see anything special about him, either."

"**Of course** you won't." Said Maan, getting up from her nap. "All you see is Mr. Gloriously and Epically Handsome Student Council Guy, aka Don Vengua…"

"Shut up, Maan." Said Nathalie, face reddening. "We all know you can't get enough of *panira-ng-imagination's name to be placed here*."

"W-WHAT?" said Maan, her own face turning pink and her expression being the weird Maan-is-shocked face. She turned to face the other two girls, mere spectators to their conversation until now. "You told her!" She pointed a finger accusingly at them.

"We didn't!" insisted Lyra and Lea.

"Yeah, they didn't." grinned Nathalie with a twinkle in her eye. "I just guessed the name. You did the rest. I love giving things a little push and watch whatever happens next unfold."

Maan groaned. "DONat..!"

"Don't call me DONat!" shrieked Nathalie.

"She's right, Maan." Said a standoffish voice behind Nathalie. "Only I can call her that. Isn't that right, DONat _dear_?"

"What the heck—! **DON!** What are you doing here! You're trespassing into Helium-III territory! And I'm not a _deer_!"

"How cute, taking it literally. You're right, you're not a deer.. You're more like a graceful gazelle in the midst of a rich and lush meadow…"

"Gaahhh! Don, stop it, my eardrums are _bleeding_..!"

"Is that so?" said Don, faking a shocked expression, and then suddenly grinning. "Then we must take you to the infirmary! No, to the hospital! To the emergency room! This is a dire tragedy! Your ears are in critical condition—!"

"OMYGAD Don, stop it. You're giving me a headache." Said Nathalie, her eye twitching.

"Oh, your head is also hurting now? Then we really _must_ go the hospital emergency room right now—"

"AGGHHH!" screamed Nathalie, messing up her hair.

"You're even making incoherent noises! To the emergency room, it is!" nodded Don, and carried Nathalie away, _bridal__style_ (obviously ignoring Nathalie's shrieks and restless movements to get out of his arms) while the other 3 girls, audience to this madness until now, watched them go out of the room in amusement.

"So." Said Lyra, after some minutes of amused silence. "Let's have lunch together later, hmm?"

* * *

"So!" said the teacher, putting the chalk he was holding back on the chalkboard ledge. "That's all for today's lesson…"

"YEAHHH!" yelled the students in unison.

"..but for your assignment –" continued the teacher.

"AAAWWWW!" groaned the students. 'Sir! Weekend..!' was heard in the background, actually audible under the din.

"Denzel!" whispered Matt, who was a few seats away at the back. He threw a crumpled piece of paper to the direction of Denzel's head. It hit him on the nose.

"Ow!" said Denzel, rubbing his nose.

"Shush! Not so loud, sir will hear you." Matt whisper-shouted.

"Fine. OW." Whispered Denzel. "Why did you throw that crumple paper at me? And at my _nose_, too!"

"What? Did you want me to hit you somewhere else... like on your ear or cheek or something? Anyways, that's beside the point. Do whatever it is you're doing best and with almost no effort at all to convince sir to abstain from giving us that homework!" Matt whispered back to Denzel in such a tone that seems to be suggesting that this was the obvious thing for Denzel to do.

"What." Deadpanned Denzel. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"Oh, the usual," whispered Matt casually. "Talking to him, smiling, winking, pole dancing, wiggling your eyebrows –"

"Excuse me," cut Denzel. "But I most certainly do NOT pole dance nor wiggle my gloriously symmetrical eyebrows."

"– blow him a kiss, give him your number –"

"I will NEVER give my number to that psychopath."

"Oh, really?" grinned Matt. "Then you're okay about blowing him a kiss, huh. Interesting…"

"Ugh!" groaned Denzel, but taking care not to demean the quality of his wonderfully heavenly voice nor his precious vocal cords with the ugly sound accompanying such an action like groaning. "Of course not. Who will even stoop that low to do such a thing?"

"I can think of one," whispered Matt.

"Yeah, me too." Nodded Denzel. "Doesn't his name start with an R.."

"Huh. Doesn't it start with a B?"

"Huuhhh." Murmured Denzel. "I think Mr. B does that to the other teacher, Sir D…"

"Oh, yeah. Mr. R applies his 's' techniques to all teachers, right?"

"No, he applies it from everyone to anything, meaning he does it to every single thing there is here above the face of the earth."

"Ohh.." said Matt, nodding his head as he absorbed this new piece of information.

"Yeah, so –"

"Mr. Soliaban, what is it that you're privately discussing with Mr. Magboo there at the back?" cut the teacher to Denzel's statement.

"SIR!" said Denzel in mock surprise, as if it was his greatest honor to be called by the teacher – via surname. He then shifted his expression into his signature smile, the one which all of the girls (esp. the ones in his fan club) dream about and hope to be smiled upon by the said smile forever; his smile which was most heavily coveted so much that people pay for paparazzis to take a hundred pictures of it – only for them to fall in love with that smile, as well. Yes, his smile has that effect on people, because of its unique, dazzling and god-like attributes: it was as bright as the radiant and summer sun, as refreshing as the cool spring water from the Alps, so amazingly charming that almost all people can't take their eyes off him (resulting to random events such as the crashing of taxis because of distracted taxi drivers with always the last thing they saw being his signature smile), and (cry now Stephenie Meyer) it makes the glittery sparkles of Edward Cullen's skin seem just like a mere dull luminosity. Some girls even claim to have reached heaven only after seeing him smile at them (or seem to smile at them, pshh they're such feelers) and then to come back to earth with their new purpose in life being a new addition to the humble and noble cause of stalking Denzel, only to come back to heaven after another direct hit of his, I quote, _'incredibly irresistible and exquisite smile that I most positively wish with all my heart to be mine'_, and vice versa, meaning another trip to heaven and back to earth again, another cycle of those same events, history repeats, yada yada yada (yes, with no change in the probability of having a change in the 2 events A and B, unless acted upon by an external force [yeah, Adv. Stat + Physics; ay wait, di ako sure. Basta yan]). Anyways, that is _their_ story; but since this story which you are currently reading is about the fairy-tale-like legend of Denzel and (oh yeah!) Lyra's newly blossoming love, we will ignore those girls' freaking-unchanging-and-freaking-repetitive-cycle-of-a-story (which will eventually change because of the external force= Lyra).

*cough. Back to the last line. cough*

The teacher looked momentarily dazed and Matt had to resist laughing out loud.

"Sir," repeated Denzel, with still his gorgeous smile (which will most likely win the most-god-like-and-charming-and-should-have-only-existed-in-the-wonderful-land-of-imagination-only-that-it-didn't-because-we-are-now-seeing-it-before-our-eyes-smile-award with no difficulty at all) present in his (need I say it?) flawless face (okay, maybe there is a blemish somewhere, but since it's not visible, who cares?). "I was just voicing my opinion on the matter of the not-yet-completely-finished-in-announcing homework to Matt here. I think that, since tomorrow is the start of the weekend, we should not be given any workload to take home as our weekends are usually reserved for our rest from any academic stress. Forgive me for my impudence on saying such a horrid thing as my opinion and I do hope that it will not be of any inconvenience to you."

The teacher looked astonished at Denzel's statement. "O-of course not! Did I say something about assignments? I'm very sorry, must've slip out, didn't really know what I have been saying these past few hours… didn't have.. argh. It's all because of my recent lack of protein bars. Never mind, never mind. Good bye and thank you class."

"Good bye and thank you, Sir!" replied the class happily as they stared at the teacher's figure already going out of their line of sight.

"Yes, Denzel!" said Matt, clapping Denzel's back.

Denzel chuckled. "Well. That was easy."

"It's lunch time," commented Matt. "Shall we head to the COOP?"

"Sure, let's go –"

"Lyra, hurry up!" said a voice outside the room not far from the 2 boys.

"All right, all right! I'm coming, just a sec – OOF!" said a voice, and Denzel felt something, or rather, someone run into him from behind on his back.

"Sorry," said the same voice, but a bit muffled as the disgruntled person, a girl with short straight hair, straightened herself from the earlier collision.

Denzel felt the words he was then about to say stuck in his throat as he gazed upon the brightest chocolate brown eyes he had ever seen staring back at him.


	2. Declaration of War

**II. Declaration of War**

Pairing: Lyra x Denzel (duh.)

Denzel's mind reeled. Flashes of bygone memories rushed into his head in a blink of an eye the moment he locked eyes with the girl.

He knew her.

He knew that face, that scowl, those twinkling brown eyes. A distant memory flashed in Denzel's mind: a little girl in a baby blue dress, twirling in a hidden overgrown garden; a sudden slip of the hand; a mouthful of grass; the sound of a tinkling laugh like the pealing of bells; a promise…

The feel of the moment vanished when he saw a hand wave in front of him. Denzel blinked. He saw that the girl was looking strangely at him, and was wearing an expression of… slight worry. He felt himself get confused by her reaction. Usually people would've panicked and say sorry with wide eyes repetitively.

And then remembered the words he should've spoken a while ago.

"Couldn't you have looked where you were going?" Denzel told the girl. After he had said this, he saw that the girl was now glowering at him. Denzel's brows furrowed. No one had ever looked at him like that before. Usually they would've first apologized to him over and over again looking all flustered, and then in turn he will coolly accept their apology, granting that their plea for forgiveness had satisfied him. But _no_, not this girl. She had actually frowned at him.

"Well, _sorry_!" she said sardonically. "If someone just hadn't been such a _roadblock_, then this wouldn't have happened! Geez, the nerve of this guy…"

Denzel stared at the girl. _What nerve of that girl!_ He thought. And to think that I thought that she was the one… _My mind has surely just played tricks on me. There is just __**no**__ way that __**she **__would be __**her**__…_

"Well?" she said, interrupting Denzel's previous trail of thought. "Are you gonna move or not?"

Denzel felt his eye twitch at her in annoyance. Such impudence! He was about to retort back an answer to her when someone yank his polo from behind.

"Sorry about my friend here," said Matt. What! Why is he apologizing to _her_? Denzel saw him throw covert glances towards the group of girls just outside the room, those who were calling out to the girl a while ago. "We were just about to leave. Come on, Denzel."

Denzel was about to protest at what an injustice this was when Matt tugged at him harder and he had to bite down a yelp. He was grasping Denzel's polo shirt a little too tight. He stopped pulling him when they got to the edge of the stairs, a fair distance away from their classroom. Denzel looked at him indignantly.

"What's the big deal, man!" Denzel growled at Matt.

"Shut up," said Matt, still throwing furtive glances towards the group of girls but looking closer, at one girl in particular… Denzel also noted a faint tinge of red on Matt's face.

"Oh no, don't tell me…" Denzel trailed in disbelief. Matt looked at back at him a little too quickly, raising his eyebrows in a not-so-subtle way of being suspicious.

"You like –"

"Shush, _dammit_, shush!" Matt hissed. Denzel grinned. _Interesting_…

"Come on, let's just go and buy some lunch," said Denzel, still snickering.

* * *

"Lyra!" said Maan, annoyance lacing her tone. "What took you so long?"

"Oh, nothing. Just talking to Mr. Roadblock a while ago, no problem…" sighed Lyra.

"Mr. Roadblock?" asked Maan.

"Denzel," said Lea, who was watching the commotion a while ago.

"Yeah, him." Lyra made an annoyed "pfft" sound.

"Ohh. Come on, let's eat. I'm starving," Maan yawned.

"And sleepy," Lyra added.

"Food comes first before sleep," stated Maan in a matter-of-fact tone. The trio laughed at Maan's statement.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a secluded part of the school smelling of unused medicines, the white elephant of the school; the Clinic…

"Ugghh, Don!" said Nathalie, who was lying on the bed with her arms crossed and glaring daggers at a boy eating a doughnut near the table. Said boy grinned and continued munching on his powdered pastry.

"Don!" cried Nathalie. "I can't take it anymore! What's the point of bringing me here to this _freaking_ Clinic?"

Don sniggered. "No no, Nathalie. Screaming is pointless in here. Didn't I tell you that you have to guess the answer to your question?"

Nathalie groaned. Don had earlier carted her off from the classroom and brought her here, to the Clinic, for reasons unknown. For the past few hours (Nathalie had lost count), they have played this stupid guessing game without stop.

"You wanted me to look like I'm skiving off class and then I'll die because you'll bury me under a mountain of pillows!" screamed Nathalie.

"Hmm. _That_ is an excellent example from your very creative imagination, which is very broad and unbelievable if I may say so, but considering our unfortunate shortage of pillows here, that is quite impossible. Plus, the number of pillows here put in a pile could still hardly be called a hill, much less a mountain," said Don, smiling. Nathalie glowered at him.

"Well, how am I _supposed_ to know?" Nathalie demanded. "Finding the right answer would be like… looking for a needle in a haystack! Besides, you're too unpredictable and random!"

"Why, thank you," said Don, grinning.

"That was _not_ a compliment!" groaned Nathalie.

"So, any more guesses?" asked Don.

"NO!"

"Eh, too bad." Said Don in a disappointed tone. "Look's like the game is finished –"

"WHAT!" screamed Nathalie. "A game? This is a _freaking_ **GAME**?"

"Oh, look it's 12 already. Lunch time. Say, do you wanna have lunch with m –"

"WHAT?" shrieked Nathalie. "It's that late already? I missed 5 _freaking_ classes! FIVE! Nooo!"

"Calm down, Nathalie." Don said calmly. Nathalie started to get up from the bed. Immediately, in a swift fluid movement almost too fast to see with the human eye, Don had moved from the table and to Nathalie's bed and pinned her down. Nathalie struggled to wrench herself away free, but Don's strong grip prevented her.

"Don!" whined Nathalie. "Let me up!"

"No," said Don simply.

"AND WHY THE HELL NOT?" challenged Nathalie, almost growling.

Don said nothing but just stared at Nathalie's obsidian eyes. Brown clashed with black and Nathalie herself also fell silent. She shivered slightly when Don whispered in her ear, "Because –"

**PLOP.**

The sound of a fallen notebook rang clear within the room, and Don quickly straightened up. There, just near the door, was a wide-eyed first-year girl. Her mouth formed a **perfect O**.

Nathalie's eyes widened and she felt her blood run cold.

_Oh, no. She did __**not**__ just see that. _Nathalie thought in despair. _No, this can't be. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no – !_

"I'm sorry if I interrupted anything!" yelped the girl, picking up her notebook and quickly slamming the semi-translucent screen door shut.

Nathalie stared at the girl's vague retreating figure in horror. Don just wore an amused smirk. Slowly, Nathalie's eyesight blurred…

Don tore his gaze from the direction of the door and turned back to Nathalie.

"Hey, Nathalie –" Don stopped in midsentence.

Nathalie was not moving. Don sighed. He realized that he was holding down a recently fainted Nathalie. He sighed. He let go of her wrists and looked at the clock.

"I hope she likes Lunch A…" muttered Don as he sent a text message towards his trusted butler.

* * *

In the meantime, lunch time in another not-so-secluded part of the school…

"Lea, what will you buy? Lunch A or C?" asked Maan, looking at the menu.

"Eh, Lunch C. I don't feel like eating beef today…"

"Huh. I'm buying Lunch B," said Lyra, staring at the menu board. "Chicken!"

"Ehh, really? Then I'll buy lunch B, too," said Maan, taking note of the chicken for the first time.

- O -

(In another part of the cafeteria..)

"Lunch B, please," said Denzel.

"Here you go," said the Lunch Lady, handing Denzel a steaming plate of fried chicken and rice with gravy on the side, as well as a bowl of salad. After giving her a silent nod of thanks. Denzel headed out to the quadrangle where Matt was waiting.

"What d'you buy?" asked Matt between mouthfuls as Denzel was approaching his table.

"Lunch B," mumbled Denzel, too hungry to talk.

"Ohh."

They both ate in silence. Well, most of the time, when Matt was not spouting out random things like math tests and scores in English and Chem… Denzel was barely paying attention, choosing instead to gaze at the trees near them. He was already finished eating and was wishing for the bell to ring already…

…Only to find something else to ring out in the quadrangle clearly, disturbing the previous tranquil atmosphere.

"Maan! Lea! Where will we eat? Which table?" said the voice. _Wait, that was an understatement_, thought Denzel. _She was yelling it out loud. Besides,_ _that voice… __**OH **__**NO**__, please _don't_ let it be her..!_

"Lyra, wait! Let's sit there near the trees.."

"OKAY!"

Denzel mentally and verbally groaned. _It _was_ her_..

Denzel heard Matt gasp almost inaudibly in front of him, but he paid it with not much attention. He rose from his seat and told Matt to do so as well. The sound of their chairs moving screeched loudly in the quadrangle and caught the attention of the newly-arrived girls.

Lyra looked at Denzel with disdain. The latter returned it with much pleasure from his side. Matt looked at Denzel questionably, as if silently asking, 'Hey, what's the big deal Denzel? I was enjoying the view..' Denzel looked at his friend and said, "Come on Matt, nasira na kasi yung view kasi may dumating."

Matt stared at Denzel for a long time, as if this time now saying, 'What, are you nuts? Hindi kaya nasira. Naging _perfect_ nga yung view eh.." Denzel deftly ignored his friend's silent comment.

Of course, such a statement could not possibly pass without a violent reaction coming from the other side.

"Ang kapal naman ng mukha mo," said Lyra contemptuously, glaring daggers at Denzel.

"Baket, may sinabi ba akong ikaw?" replied Denzel coolly. "Di ba wala naman? Feeler ka kasi eh. Feel mo ikaw na lahat."

"Abaaa," said Lyra, fuming and ready to explode. And that would be **so** not pretty.

"What, you've got nothing else to say?" mocked Denzel. "Oi, oi, oi! Ano yan!" He saw Lyra curl her fist and walk towards him. Well, stomp, more like.

"I'm going to place **this**," Lyra (she is now very near Denzel) said, gesturing to her fist, "to where it belongs, which is to say, to your against-the-natural-laws-of-nature-slash-dermatologically-tested-Belofied face."

"They say that the one who first resorts to violence is the one who has run out of arguments," smirked Denzel smoothly, raising his eyebrow slightly in amusement.

Lyra's fist stopped in mid-punch and mid-stride and Denzel's smirk grew bigger. Before Lyra could react, Denzel pinched her cheek teasingly and whispered, "I look forward to more meetings like this, Lyra. Next time, expect that you and I will have words."

Lyra stood there, blinking and wide-eyed, as Denzel walked out of the quadrangle, who was still wearing his grin. The bell rang all-throughout the campus, but the only thing that rang clear in Lyra's head was Denzel's words…

And the fact that he had used her name for the first time.


End file.
